Supernatural
by Swampfire Leatherweed
Summary: Arthur is used to seeing faeries and goblins, so it's no surprise when he meets a reaper. Written for the Crack Pairing Generator Challenge on Black Butler dot net. Eric SlingbyxArthur Wordsmith.
1. Chapter 1

Supernatural

Summary: Arthur is used to seeing faeries and goblins, so it's no surprise when he meets a reaper. Written for the Crack Pairing Generator Challenge on . Eric SlingbyxArthur Wordsmith.

Disclaimer: Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso-sensei.

A/N: My random pairing was EricxArthur, so here you go.

Arthur, for some reason or other, attracted the supernatural like flies to a corpse. After his strange encounter with Earl Phantomhive's demon butler (which had left him shaken for quite some time), he had begun to notice other beings which were more than human. It was now such a common occurrence, that he was no longer shocked, and in fact had made many friends among the good neighbors.

After leaving the Phantomhive mansion, it was several months before he saw the first faerie. After that, it was all downhill as he began to see more and more unearthly beings. He found goblins in his sock drawer and pixies in his newspapers. He even once found an oriental looking, reptilian creature in his bathtub. It had demanded cucumbers and wouldn't leave until given some. After all that, Arthur was used to strange things and was not at all shocked or scared when he met a reaper.

Arthur had been taking another of his walks, again to get ideas, and was entirely focused on his protagonist and not where he was going. As such, he soon ran into another person walking along. The man was taller than him, with strange hair that was blonde with a patch of black braiding. He turned around and Arthur noticed that he had green eyes that almost glowed. The writer felt like they were staring into his very soul.

"S-sorry," Arthur stammered.

"S'alright," the stranger responded casually.

"I hope you won't be offended," Arthur said, "But by any chance are you a demon?"

"Excuse me?" The man raised an eyebrow at the question.

"Ah, you see I can tell that you aren't human, and your presence is similar to that of a demon. Is that what you are?" Arthur clarified.

"I'm impressed," the man chuckled, "Most humans can't tell us apart. You must have faerie sight or something. But don't compare me to those demon scum. I'm a reaper."

"As in a grim reaper? A reaper of souls?"

"Yeah. Eric Slingby of the London Reaper Dispatch Society," he introduced himself.

"I'm Arthur-."

"I know your name. It's part of the job, y'know."

"Right."

Eric suddenly checked his watch.

"Crap. I'm going to be late if I don't hurry. Nice meeting you Art."

"Art?"

But the reaper had already disappeared. Arthur went home marveling at his new nickname. '_I guess I made another strange friend', _Arthur thought as he recalled his other "friends". '_A pastry making demon, a cucumber eating...whatever that was, and now a grim reaper with blue glasses.' _But the reaper was somehow different from the other creatures that Arthur encountered before. Those eyes seemed to captivate him even after their glow was no longer present.

A few days later, Arthur saw Eric again, this time it was outside Arthur's home. One of the writer's elderly neighbors had died and Arthur had been helping her feed her cats at the time that she passed. He felt bad for poor Mrs. Jenkins, but was pleasantly surprised when Eric showed up, along with a redheaded woman. '_Or is it a man?'_ Arthur mused. '_She.. he.. it is wearing pants, but also lipstick. How confusing.'_

"Fancy seeing you again, Art," the reaper saluted.

"Oh yeah, you're probably here to reap her soul."

"Yep. She's one of the ones on our list."

"Who is he~?" asked the ginger.

"He's a friend of mine. He has faerie sight. Art, this is my co-worker Grell."

"Nice to meet you, miss." Arthur said, hoping to have gotten the gender right.

"He called me miss!" exclaimed Grell, "I think I like this guy."

"Er, thanks?" Arthur breathed a sigh of relief.

Arthur then got to watch as the two reapers did their job. Grell watched a film of Mrs. Jenkins' life, which she explained was a Cinematic Record, and then reaped her soul. As she did this, Eric took notes in a notebook bound in black leather.

"Wait, now what am I to do with all these cats?" Arthur complained.

"I have ju~st the place!" Grell offered.

"Here, you take them, then," the writer proceeded to put the six cats in a basket and handed it to Grell.

The red reaper grabbed the basket and went off to wherever she was going to leave them.

"Great. We were supposed to go for dinner after we wrapped up here."

"Er, sorry. Did I ruin your date?"

Eric laughed. "It wasn't a date. He's just my co-worker. Some others from the Dispatch'll be there too."

"He?" Arthur gulped. _'So I did get it wrong?'_

"Yeah, even though Grell always wants to be called a lady. Either way, he's probably going to end up goofing off for a while. Say, why don't you come along? I'm sure the others would be interested in meeting a guy like you."

And that was how Arthur began spending time with Eric. It would be the first of several outings with the reaper, though Arthur didn't know it yet. '_You know,_'Arthur said to himself, '_I think I'm starting to like this friend more than my other friends._'

Meanwhile, at the Phantomhive estate, Grell had snuck into a certain butler's room just in time to be caught by the butler himself.

"Grell, what are you doing here?"

"I brought you a present~!"


	2. Chapter 2

Supernatural

Disclaimer: Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji belongs to Toboso-sensei.

A/N: I was only going to make this a oneshot, but I guess I should continue it after all.

* * *

Unfortunately, it wasn't as if Arthur could just up and leave with Mrs. Jenkins' body still laying on the floor. He panicked a bit at the thought of having to tell her family. He didn't want to be the bearer of bad news and this was certainly bad news. He also didn't want to make Eric even more late than he was. The poor writer furrowed his brows and tried to think of the best way to handle the situation. _'I could just go to the police station and let them handle it. It's just down the street. But then Mrs. Jenkins' son would have to find out that way. What was his name anyway?...'_

"I suppose we'll need to take care of the old lady before we leave."

"Well, yes," Arthur had not thought of asking Eric for help. He felt quite silly now.

"I've got a friend who can take care of her for you."

"Really?"

"Actually, he's just down the street from here."

Whoever Arthur expected to be Eric's friend, it wasn't an Undertaker. _'Although that is most logical in this situation. The absurdity of befriending a grim reaper must be getting to my head or something,'_ the writer mused. The shop was less than attractive from the exterior with dark coffins strewn about, adding to the unsettling mood. A particularly ominous one stood open just near the door as if it were welcoming customers to get in it. The interior was even worse. Strange pickled things sat dusty on shelves above a counter lined with beakers of unknown and rather smelly fluids. There were even more coffins set up in the room and the sunlight barely aided the dim lamps, making it feel more like a tomb than a shop.

"Hey, Undertaker, we've got a customer for you," Eric said, seemingly to the air.

"Is that so~?"

The lid of the coffin nearest Arthur suddenly creaked open, causing him to jump. He was disturbed to find that the voice he had heard had come from a man laying inside the creaky coffin and even more disturbed at how similar both voice and coffin sounded. The man, supposedly the Undertaker, sat up to reveal a length of gray hair topped by a peculiar hat. The undertaker was pale and covered in scars. His clothes seemed to carry the strong smell of the embalming solutions used in his trade. If he hadn't been moving and talking just a moment ago, Arthur would have said he was a corpse.

The pale figure clambered out of the coffin and slunk over to Arthur and Eric. He giggled in a manner which gave Arthur chills. _Wait a second... He has a weird aura too._

"Um, by any chance are you-"

"By any chance are you my next customer?" Undertaker interrupted.

"No, he's not," Eric negated, "A woman by the name of Mary Jenkins just died a few blocks over. She needs to be taken care of and have her family informed."

"I'll get right on it. But you still owe me a favor~," Undertaker chuckled.

"Ah, do I really have to do this now? It'll be embarrassing with Art here. "

"Yes, I want that~!"

"Fine, fine," Eric cleared his throat nervously, "Which side of a turkey has more feathers?"

"I wonder~."

"The outside."

Silence filled the room. Arthur looked at Undertaker, then Eric, then back again, wondering what had just happened. _A joke? He wanted a joke? And a bad one at that. _Arthur forced a bit of a laugh, realizing it would be impolite not to, but felt awkward when the other two looked at him funny. Undertaker frowned at Eric and shook his head.

"No good at all. I'll let you try again next time. Have a good day~."

Eric sighed, "Can't be helped I guess. C'mon, Art, let's get going."

Arthur followed behind dumbly, unsure what exactly had just happened. He wondered who, or what Undertaker really was and why he wanted a joke. _And why on Earth was he so frightening? Arthur_ shivered when he recalled the sickening scent of embalming fluids. _Sebastian was scary as well, but at least he smelled better. _Along with faerie sight Arthur also seemed to be picking up on the smells off supernatural beings recently, as if the more time he spent around the faeries and such, the more he was able to sense them.

It was then that Arthur realized that he had been moving closer to Eric as they walked and blushed when he realized that he wanted to know what Eric smelled like too. He risked getting a bit closer out of curiosity. _He's got a generic masculine scent to him, but there's something I can't quite place and... flowers? A slight flowery smell? Does he have a lady friend that wears perfume? _The thoughts were stopped short, though, by Eric who had abruptly stopped walking causing Arthur to nearly run into him.

"Wha-?"

"We're here," the reaper explained.

Arthur looked around and saw that he had entered another world without realizing. The gray sky of London had been replaced by a clear, cirrus speckled one. Tall white buildings towered above neat roadways and well maintained sidewalks. Several bespectacled men and women in suits walked down these sidewalks. Some carried various strange instruments or garden tools while others carried briefcases and papers. The writer was so overwhelmed that he almost didn't notice when Eric directed him to a nearby pub. He shook his head a bit and followed his friend inside the building.


End file.
